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In the Hollow
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# Posted: 23 Apr 2014 12:59pm
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Hi Mattd love your place and can't wait to see it finished. I think the siding you used is the same that we used inside of our cabin. My builder said I could paint it but I haven't yet.
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andrewcmsu
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# Posted: 10 Jun 2014 11:02am
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Any work going on here?
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mattd
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2014 06:35pm
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Hey buddy. i could use some help/motivation. been really busy with work and kids and havent gotten too much done out there. Have done a few things.
Been a couple months now, but I got a 50 yard shooting lane, backstop, and berm built. Keep forgetting to take pictures. And one trip I went thru and caulked more interior joints. still dry on the inside, but need a full weekend to get it officially dried in. Been saying that for awhile.
The food plot is doing great. the wheat and clover is thick.
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mattd
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# Posted: 18 Jun 2014 06:41pm
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I do have a pretty good story thats worth mentioning. the conservation department is going to reimburse me $500 for building a watering hole. so i rented a BIG bobcat and trailer and towed it out there. i figured, with the weight of the trailer it would get stuck on the logging road, but i'd just drive the bobcat off and continue. sure enuf, it got stuck on the loggin road in the middle of the woods, but they gave me the wrong key. so it stayed stuck all weekend and i got no work done. we had to hike all of our camp gear, coolers, food, etc over a mile for 4 trips to get it to the cabin. Sunday a tow truck got us out and my insurance covered that.
so they comped me that rental and gave me another weekend free. had to spend a little more on gas, maybe $100 total, but saved $375 on the rental. so for the cost of a weekend and some anxiety i saved a lot.
on the second trip my father in law with bobcat experience knocked a 80'x60'x4' deep watering hole out in about 2.5 hours. i got a short trail cut in with it as well.
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andrewcmsu
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# Posted: 26 Jun 2014 03:46pm
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looking good dude!!!
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mattd
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2014 03:50pm - Edited by: mattd
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Finally, after a long summer, made it back down to the cabin, the weekend before this past one, 8/1-3. Last time I was at the cabin was the first bobcat fiasco in mid May. Wife and kids went to KC for the weekend so I spent the whole weekend there. Before leaving I got all the gutter stuff, as well as general livin things like a dish pan, soap, sponges, bug spray, Lysol, window cleaner, tiki torches, citronella fuel, solar path lights, etc.
Got down there Fri after work and put in a window. I originally framed for a bigger window that my neighbor gave me, but then someone else gave me a nicer, smaller, window with storm windows, screens etc. So I had to reframe, cut the hole, install and caulk.
Got all that done right before dark and then went to work on the camp site. Pounded metal tubes in the ground for tiki torches and put path lights in around the cabin and out into the woods to have a path to go to the bathroom. Cleaned up a little too. Up to this point I haven't sat around a fire out there and just relaxed. Burned a lot of the brush I cleared out when first building.
Saturday morning I couldn't get out of bed. It was in the mid 60's and with the new window installed and open, and with the silence of the woods I was too cozy to get up and at em. When I finally did me and the dog went up to check out the pond. It is about 1/3 of the way full, which is impressive because it has been incredibly dry all summer. The ruts in the road that are always full where dry. I could see where the water had been about a foot higher too, and there were deer and turkey tracks throughout the mud. Need to clean up the perimeter, put up a stand and plant some food plot stuff on the bare dirt.
After that I got to work on the gutters which stretched into Sunday. First step was to trim the roof trusses to a uniform length, paint and reinstall the fascia and then hang the gutters. I only got the front done, and still have a few more pieces to make it complete.
Total cost for gutters was ~$140.
Saterday late afternoon a co-worker who owns some property up the road came out. He's also a hobby botanist type and can give the common and latin name for just about everything out there. We found wild blueberries everywhere, st. johns wort, sassafras, blackberry, cherry trees, wild grapes (ate some even, not that impressive), persimmons loaded with fruit and a young persimmon in my food plot. Felt pretty good I had all that stuff that I've walked by not knowing any better a million times.
So after working on the gutters most of Saturday as well as hiking a bunch of the property in the afternoon I was sweaty and gross. no problem....built a shower house! Took the pan from the shower remodel I did at home a few months ago and leveled it up. got a branch to hoist my camp shower up, and built a shelf for soap and towel hanger. camp showers are awesome.
Also, Sunday I sprayed the food plot to get ready for this falls planting, hopefully this weekend or next.
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mattd
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# Posted: 27 Aug 2014 08:59pm
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Well it finally got hot in MO. After a full summer of perfect weather I went out to till and plant the food plots in the heat. One weird thing that's been happening is that every time I plan to go to the property someone gets sick, one of the kids, the babysitter, my wife. And I already have the day off work so I get to stay home with the sick person or take care of the kids. It's getting to the point where it appears that it must be cosmic, or some sort of weird karma. Took last Friday off, was leaving early to beat the heat, in the driveway loading up, and guess what...babysitter sick. first full week of school. Luckily my mother-in-law came and covered for me, but I got an hour later start and DID NOT beat the heat.
Got started around nine, took about 3 1/2 hours to till a little over a quarter acre with a garden tiller. I was beat but got a mineral lick on the ground, and the feeder filled. Then I worked my way down to the watering hole, which is probably about half full now, gaining water, and planted the dam and ground around it.
Checked on the cabin at the end of the day and it is more airtight than ever thanks to my previous efforts of caulking and sealing. I hung a fly strip up and it was empty.
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mattd
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# Posted: 7 Sep 2014 10:52pm - Edited by: mattd
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Got some work done this weekend. On The last hottest day of the year. I previously bought gutters for two sides, 20ft each. Forgot abot the 1ft overhang on each side. So last trip I cut into the extra I had and used 22 ft. Leaving 18 for the backside, and completely forgot I needed to buy more. So I was short this time finishing up the gutters on the back. I rigged it tho and it should be a quick wrap up nxt trip out.
Also got the screen on the front gutter. 2 weeks without and they were full of pine needles.
It got up to high 90s and I didn't bring enuf water so was rationing between me and the dog. But after gutters I was beat but did a little shooting. Don't think I ever posted pics of the range I cut in. Needs more work but is 50 yards from the cabin.
After that I was still exhausted but had to hang a ladder stand over the watering hole. I drug this big contraption up hill a long ways and was too tired when I got up there. Tried hanging stand but it was giving me trouble so gave up. Ponds getting more full and the food plot stuff I planted is sprouting. Pulled the card from the game camera, but there was just 3 deer and one turkey in 2 weeks. Deer season starts in 8 days, the 15th, so guess I'll be hunting the big food plot
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mattd
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2014 10:47pm - Edited by: mattd
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Big weekend! family came down and spent the first night in the cabin.
Came down Sat evening. They left Sunday and I stayed because deer season started Mon. The mini van made it down the road to the cabin pretty easy after trimming some over hang and moving some bigger rocks.
I had a little work to do to get the chimney vertical cause it was going to get into the 40s.
That went up pretty quick, altho I didn't get any supports on it, but it was sturdy. Ate dinner, then s'mores then inside for some playing before bed. Inside was at 50 degrees when I started the fire and it quickly got to 72. Think it could a got a lot hotter, but I didn't have any split wood, just 4-5 inch round logs. Plus the learning curve with the dampers. We woke up COLD. Fire went out. I needed to get up to feed it, but I had a small propane heater so we were warmish for breakfast. Went hiking them shot my daughters new 22 and they left.
I got the gutters finished up and built the bottom shelf for the chimney. Then worked on the supports for the chimney. Plan was to rivet some aluminum angle bar into a square to enclose the pipe, then use the angle bar to attach to the square and tie back into the roof. The square worked well, but the tie back wasnt successful. Spent a lot of time on it and wasted a couple hours tinkering. Ended up using string to tie the square alum cage back to the roof and a nearby tree, actually seems pretty good.
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mattd
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# Posted: 18 Sep 2014 10:55pm
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Deer hunt went pretty well Mon morning. Keep in mind that I haven't seen a whole lot of deer out there, and trail cams always get things at night.
Started a pretty good rain right after sun up that lasted until bout 830. Stuck it out and right after it stopped a hen walked out into the food plot and quickly busted me and ran off. little later 2 deer 50 yards back in the woods saw me before I saw them and ran off. then a small deer came up right behind me. The leaves were wet and he was silent and he SW me first and took off too. then another turkey came out of the woods, SW me and was gone.
So a lot of activity, but I moved my stand deeper in the woods into some thicker stuff. It was hung on the edge of the food plot and they were seeing me against the sky.
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mattd
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2014 09:57am - Edited by: mattd
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I think it was a great idea and will soon be building the deck on them. It must be an optical illusion with the pics. I check them regularly and everything is level and plumb. There's actually been virtually no settling which has surprised me. Was expecting to have to shim some.
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mattd
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# Posted: 15 Apr 2015 10:49pm - Edited by: mattd
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Hi everybody! Been gone for awhile. As hunting season approached I moved from working on the cabin and worked more on the woods...cutting trails, getting stands up in new places, clearing shooting lanes, etc. I got 2 does within the first hour of opening day with home made lead bullets. Had a good deer camp too. A friend who hunts w me and my brother came down for the weekend.
Cutting firewood and cleaning up the woods with Wes
Took my 5yo daughter out during second weekend of deer season for her first time out. Sat in a tent blind over the watering hole. Didint see anything.
Got the first good buck on cam after the first weekend of gun season.
Frost seeded the food plot in clover late winter and planted 3 apple trees
Protected from the wildlife
During these over nite winter trips it became obvious insulation was needed. w/out insulation, during deer season it got into the teens. While awake and feeding the stove it would maintian 65. But the stove breathed too well even with everything shut down and we'd wake up within 2 hours to a cold cabin and a fire that was all but out. so got some insulation in the walls, still needs more, but what's there has already helped. and sealed up the stove some, caulked joints and air vents, use insulation to block anything that couldnt be caulked. Now it gets plenty warm, and after 4 hours the cabin is still warm and there are enough coals that all I have to do is throw more logs in and go back to bed and they catch and will keep me warm for another 4 hours. With a little more caulk and the right wood I bet I can get to 6 hours, especially once the insulation is complete.
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mattd
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# Posted: 15 Apr 2015 11:11pm
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Back to the last few weeks. We are moving. So a lot of things that have been sitting at the house waiting for the right time to go to the cabin have gone to get the house ready. That lead to the cabin getting cleaned up and updated.
got the kitchenette going.
brought a bed down and laid some carpet from the old carpet we replaced at the house. 
None of the panels are secured, just propped up.
I believe a good amount of meditation will be had in the easy chair.
The sink is sitting here cause I put the backer board down on the counter and the mortar is drying. I'll tile the counter and backsplash with scraps left over from old tile projects.
Other then that there were major storms recently. Grapefruit sized hail just south. Whole sections of the hill side had the whole leaf layer washed out. The valley was cleared of all leaf litter and I can see the creek bed, which is usually covered in leaves. Seeps were leaking flowing water from the hillside days later. Cabin was dry as a bone. Still have a few things to do outside to offically dry it in. I'll knock those out next, then build the 20x7 deck, then back to working on the inside.....frame out the bedroom, build the loft, finish the kitchen, finish insulating, etc.
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mattd
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# Posted: 15 Apr 2015 11:39pm
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BTW....happy anniversary everybody!!! Started this thread, and the cabin, 2 years ago this month
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mattd
Member
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# Posted: 13 May 2015 10:47pm
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During our spring turkey season I was able to get down a couple times. Had high hopes for hunting. Lots and lots of turkey pics on my game cams. Opening morning I was hunting w my dad old single shot 20g I recently refinished. Had a big tom come into the field from behind me. He busted me moving, I rushed the shot and missed. If I had a second shot I think there'd be meat on the table.
Anyway, got the sink 75% plumbed in and got some tile done. I hooked the sink up to a 6g jug for now. Eventually I'll build a 55g water tower up hill of the cabin and gravity feed it. But at least it's nice to not have to go outside to brush your teeth in the early morn.
And a single large morel I found while hunting.
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